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Media Morsels 11.16.12

Season two of The Newsroom is now in production and there are three new cast members (in recurring, not regular, roles): Patton Oswalt, Rosemarie DeWitt and Grace Gummer (Arcadia). (As a side note, I think DeWitt and Kate Arrington (Grace) should play sisters.) Oswalt and DeWitt previously shared the small screen on Showtime's darkly funny The United States of Tara. As noted in The Hollywood Reporter, "Oswalt will play Jonas Pfeiffer, the new VP of human resources at...Atlantic Cable News, while DeWitt will portray Rebecca Halliday, a litigator brought in to defend the network in a wrongful-termination lawsuit." Sorkinese fans will see traces of Aaron Sorkin's previous TV shows in these characters and scenarios. Meanwhile, Gummer, according to Broadway.com, will play a reporter following Mitt Romney's campaign. (Remember: The Newsroom is set in the recent past.) The second season (which will not include mention of the General Petraeus incident) will premiere on HBO in June 2013. Keep checking back for updates.

Over at The Hollywood Reporter, they're in full award season mode, paying particular attention to the Academy Awards. Included in their coverage is a photo essay of the eight studio films likely to be facing off in the Best Picture category, including Argo and The Dark Knight Rises. And in the Feinberg Forecast, THR's awards analyst Scott Feinberg is keeping readers up to date on "noteworthy developments" in the awards realm. This week, the Forecast notesLincoln's impressive box office numbers; mixed-message comments about the Oscars from The Master's Joaquin Phoenix; Les Miserables tidbits; and Django Unchained co-stars jockeying for position in the various acting categories (could this finally be Leonardo DiCaprio's year to win?). I particularly like Feinberg's list of front-runners, listed at the bottom of the Forecast, which has Seth MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild as possible contenders for Best Screenplay for Ted.

New York City Ballet Update

Company member and emerging choreographer Justin Peck will get to premiere a new work in City Ballet's winter season. For the January 31, 2013, New Combinations Evening, Peck's new work (set to “Sinfonietta LaJolla” by the Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu) will replace a new piece by Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins. Martins's work is being postponed until the 2014 winter season to allow the composer, Marc-Andre Dalbavie, more time to fine tune the music. Those who saw Peck's Year of the Rabbit this fall (or, I'm sure, In Creases this summer) will welcome this news as they eagerly await another ballet from this talented dancer-choreographer.

One of my favorite bands, The Spring Standards, is recording a live album this winter and they need your help. The band will record their annual Boxing Day show at the Adren Gild Hall in Delaware, but in order to record it well and produce it properly and get it out to their fans, they need you to contribute to their Kickstarter campaign. (All of The Spring Standards' albums (Yellow/Gold, Would Things Be Different and No One Will Know) have been Kickstarted. They rely on and truly appreciate their fans.) I'll keep the Kickstarter widget on the right side of the blog until December 15, which is the Kickstarter deadline. Contribute now and help these talented musicians continue making and putting out great music!

Casting Updates

Matthew Perry will "go on" another episode of The Good Wife. Perry appeared in a few episodes last season and will return this season in an episode set to air in early 2013. The Hollywood Reporter has details.

F. Murray Abraham, seen this past week on The Good Wife, will appear in Manhattan Theatre Club's premiere production of Terrence McNally's Golden Age. Playbill has details.

Liza Minnelli will make an appearance on the second season of Smash. She's play herself. Playbill has details.

The cast recording for the Les Miserables film will be released on December 25, the same day the movie hits theaters.

Time to go to Austin: Dave Grohl will give the keynote address at the SXSW (South by Southwest) festival in 2013. The festival runs March 12-17, 2013, and Grohl will give his address on the 14th. Visit sxsw.com for more details.

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